{"id":69754,"date":"2020-07-01T18:50:09","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T13:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=69754"},"modified":"2020-07-02T15:31:10","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T10:01:10","slug":"fact-check-did-japan-deploy-missiles-to-counter-chinese-threat-after-india-china-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/fact-check-did-japan-deploy-missiles-to-counter-chinese-threat-after-india-china-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact-check: Did Japan deploy missiles to counter Chinese threat after India-China conflict?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On June 20, a Thailand-based news website Asia News<\/a> published an article with the headline ‘Japan deployed ballistic missiles at China border after its conflict with India’. The article claimed that Japan “will implement the Patriot Pac-3 MSE Air Defense Missile System deployment at four military bases by June this year”. Since then, the report<\/a> has been shared by several social media users on Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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On June 22, Republic TV<\/a> (archive<\/a>) published an article based on the Asia Times report. This article was retweeted<\/a> over 1,200 times (archive<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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The article by Asia News was also shared by BJP IT head Amit Malviya<\/a>, BJP national panellist Rohit Chaha<\/a>l, ABP anchor Namrata Wagle<\/a>, actor Praveen Dabas<\/a> and blogger Narayanan Hariharan<\/a> (archived link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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Prashant Patel Umrao, whose trysts with misinformation have been documented in this report<\/a>, similarly tweeted, “Japan deployed ballistic missiles at China border after its conflict with India. In addition to deploying its missile, Japan has also increased the number of army [men] along China border & asked China has to vacate Diaoyu Island by saying it belongs to Japan.<\/span>” This was retweeted over 3,000 times as of this writing (archive<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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Fact-check<\/h4>\n

The headline of the article by Asia News claimed that Japan deployed missiles at China border. However, the body of the report does not make this assertion. In fact, without references to Indo-China dispute, it claimed that Japan “will implement the Patriot Pac-3 MSE Air Defense Missile System deployment at four military bases by June this year”. In this fact-check, we’ll answer the following:<\/p>\n

1) What is Patriot PAC-3 MSE?
\n2) When did Japan deploy PAC-3 MSE?
\n3) Is Asia News an authentic source of information?
\n4) What is the territorial dispute between Japan and China?<\/p>\n

1) What is PAC-3 MSE?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As per the Japnese Ministry of Defence<\/a> (MoD), Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement<\/span> (PAC-3 MSE) or Advanced PAC-3 is an air defence systems for countering airborne threats specifically ballistic missiles. It is an enhanced version of PAC-3 with double the range. The graphic attached below from ‘2017 Defence of Japan’ report (view pdf<\/a>), shows the improved range of PAC-3 MSE.<\/p>\n

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2) When did Japan deploy PAC-3 MSE?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alt News performed a keyword search in Japanese and found an article<\/a> by Kyodo, a Japan-based news website. As per the article, Yoshinari Marumo, a general officer<\/span> at Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force, stated that PAC-3 MSE was made available to four prefectures (states) in March. This was also reported by The Sankei News<\/a>, Tokyo Web<\/a>, The Hokkaido Shimbun Press<\/a> and several other websites<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since the missiles were deployed in March, this cannot be linked to the recent India-China dispute.<\/p>\n

\"\"As per a 2016 report by Reuters<\/a>, Japan is upgrading from PAC-3 to PAC-3 MSE in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a response to North Korean’s growing missile threat in the region.<\/p>\n

Even articles on PAC-3 do not that state that they have been deployed with regard to India’s tensions with China. A June 17 article by Japan Times<\/a> states that PAC-3 was deployed at the Defense Ministry\u2019s Ichigaya military base in Tokyo after North Korea announced plans to deploy troops at inter-Korean cooperation sites.<\/p>\n

On June 18, the Japan Ministry of Defense\/Self-Defense Forces tweeted images of PAC-3 at camp Naebo in Hokkaido. <\/span><\/p>\n

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On June 18, #JASDF<\/a> @JASDF_PAO_ENG<\/a> 3rd Air Defense Missile Group conducted the PAC-3 maneuver deployment training at JGSDF Vice-Camp Naebo. JMOD\/JSDF will continuously conduct this training throughout Japan, to response to any situational developments. pic.twitter.com\/zEcOumDtm2<\/a><\/p>\n

— Japan Ministry of Defense\/Self-Defense Forces (@ModJapan_en) June 19, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n